We caught up with the brilliant and insightful FERNANDA SCHEIN a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi FERNANDA, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I think I just learned to use it to my own advantage. If you listen to your own thoughts closely, you can analyze the insecurities that show up in a particular situation, observe its emotional patterns and peel out the layers that are just saying “you’re not good enough” to find what skills you are actually missing that are making you feel that way.
When I started working in post-production I was 19, and remember feeling so inferior to my male peers. It always seemed like they knew more and could do things better. But after much observation, I think I was able to identify some key factors playing a part in my low self-esteem, that were actually solvable:
– I needed to become more confident with the softwares
– I needed to be more vocal about the things I wanted to do
So I started watching YouTube tutorials on everything I wanted to learn. And if I couldn’t, I’d show the tutorial to someone and ask for help. That started giving me a feeling of control over the things I was insecure about, and started giving insights to people that worked with me on what my strenghts and interests were, so they could help nuture it.
It’s not that I don’t have those thougths of insecurity anymore, it’s just that I noticed everyone has them. What sets you apart is if you find a more effective way to deal with them.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I always had a passion for telling stories. As a kid, I loved writing in my journal and shooting little sketches with my friends on my Dad’s old camera. Movies have always drawn my attention more than anything else, and putting the stories together, and finding their structure was my favorite part.
So for a long time, I thought that meant I should be a writer. Accidentally during my first year in college for advertising, I parachuted into a Final Cut 7 class and I was introduced to the magic world of editing. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t think until that point I knew there was another way to work with movies that could be that introspective and at the same time creative. I just fell in love with it completely.
I started filming vlogs about shows that I liked, just so I would have something to edit. Once I went to my first job interview in post-production, that was the only portfolio that I had – and people loved it! Everyone thought it was really cool I was producing content on my own to get ahead of my own learning and I got a lot of opportunities because of that, which I really didn’t anticipate.
Once I moved to the U.S., I knew for sure that being an editor was what I wanted to do with my film career. However, after working for many different places both in Brazil and in the U.S., I gathered knowledge on other areas of post-production that interested and intrigued me just as much, and the desire to build a team of people that could take a project from the very beginning of the editorial all the way into the finish line started to become stronger.
That’s when the idea for Schein Post-Production (http://scheinpostproduction.com) came about a virtual post-production house that operates mostly remotely and can take clients from anywhere in the world, just as hiring artists from anywhere, making it a very dynamic and diverse working experience, also been giving me a lot more of creative freedom when deciding my next project.
This year we had 2 feature film projects screening at the Chinese Theater (“Farewelling” and “Katie’s Mom) during the Dances with Films Festival, and we’re in the midst of editing our first feature-length documentary which should be released next year. Among these long-form projects, we also love working on high-end short films that can showcase upcoming talents, for example, the short film “Last Minute” which was awarded in over 30 festivals around the world, including 3 Editing awards.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
When it comes to Editing, it’s indispensable to put effort into learning software. I’m constantly studying how to make my practices better and more effective, and knowing my way around software when I have a client with me communicates so much confidence. However, two skills that sometimes are overlooked that I think were just as important to me were communication and emotional regulation.
As an editor, you need to be able to communicate very well. A lot of the time it’s completely up to you to explain or articulate why a scene isn’t working and how it should be improved. If you can’t communicate your thoughts and ideas well, you may find yourself and everyone else frustrated for not being able to solve what could have been a simple matter.
That’s where emotional regulation plays a part. It’s inevitable that towards the end of the editorial process when delivery is approaching, everyone is on the edge of burnout and anxious for everything to go well. The editor and the post-team are usually at the center of that and expected to perform at their highest capacity to bring a show across the finish line. It’s incredibly important in those moments to learn to observe and handle your emotions, so they don’t compromise the work or end up being projected onto somebody else.
And as for advice, there’s always two things I tell people:
– Tell everyone what you would like to do, and what’s your dream job. No one can refer you, help you, or find you for an opportunity they don’t even know you want.
– You can’t always harvest if you don’t seed. Sometimes, especially if you’re a freelancer, work slows down beyond your control (for example, the industry goes on strike!). Use that time to plant new seeds and eventually the time to harvest again will come.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Recently I’ve been diving a lot into documentary editing techniques and “Order in Chaos” by Nils Pagh Andersen is a masterpiece that I’d recommend to any filmmaker, regardless of their preference of genre or department. Obviously, as an editor, there is a whole lot more you can take from this book than other people, but the way in which Nils discusses humanity and how to authentically bring that into screen it’s valuable to any artist. I got into it thinking I was gonna read a book on editing, and I left feeling like I’d attended a philosophy class. Fascinating.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://scheinpostproduction.com
- Instagram: @feschein @scheinpostproduction
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernanda-schein-69272549/
- Twitter: @feschein on threads, not on X.
